China Commodities & Resource Monthly Recap

December 8 – China's demand for iron ore and coal is expected to total 1.13 billion tons and 380 million tons respectively through the end of 2015, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology predicted.

December 8 – China will have discovered one trillion m3 of shale gas in geological reserves, 200 billion m3 of recoverable reserves and will be able to produce 6.5 billion m3 of shale gas annually by the end of 2015, according to the National Energy Administration.

December 1 – China's liquefied natural gas capacity is expected to reach 7.5 million tons per year by the end of 2014, the China Industrial Gas Association predicted.

November 25 – China discovered 5.75 billion tons of geological reserves of petroleum and 3.1 trillion m3 of natural gas between 2005 and 2010, up 15.4% and 14.8% respectively from the previous five years, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.

November 25 – China's output of the 10 most widely used nonferrous metals was up 3.7% in October from a year ago, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

November 25 – China's soybean imports are expected to rise 18.5% year on year to 13 million tons in Q1 2012, the China National Grain and Oil Information Center predicted.

November 23 – Up to 8,000 tons of China's rare earth export quotas will not be used this year, making the case for a cut in the annual quota next year, a Chinese rare earth exporter said. This year's quota is 30,184 tons.

November 22 – Turkmenistan's natural gas supply to China will rise to 65 billion m3, up from its current 25 billion m3, the nation's president told a news conference, without giving a timetable.

November 21 – China's stockpiles of commercial crude oil declined 4% month on month in October, according to a tracking system by the Xinhua News Agency, which does not offer the exact size of stockpiles. The system also revealed that the price of imported aviation fuel was down 3% month on month to ¥7,324/ton in October.

November 21 – China's diesel imports skyrocketed almost 700% year on year to 330,586 tons in October, according to customs figures.

November 17 – China's natural gas imports were up 86.5% year on year to 25 billion m3 and consumption was up 20.4% to 104.1 billion m3 in the first 10 months, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

November 16 – In the first 10 months, China's prices of crude oil imports were up 38% year on year, prices of refined oil imports were up 34.5%, prices of iron ore imports were up 33.5% and prices of soybean imports were up 29.8%, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

November 16 – China's wholesale pork price declined 1.9% week on week to ¥24.28/kg nationwide in the week through November 13, 2011, the lowest since late June, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

November 16 – China, the world's biggest buyer of soybeans, bought 600,000 tons of oilseeds from the US to boost government stockpiles, Bloomberg reported, citing three people with knowledge of the transaction. China Grain Reserves Corp, which manages state food reserves, bought the soybeans for delivery next year.

November 15 – China's annual consumption of crude oil and refined oil will amount to 530 million tons and 290 million tons respectively by 2015, the Ministry of Commerce predicted.

November 11 – China purchased 996,100 bales of the most common type of cotton from the US last week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing the US Department of Agriculture. This was both the largest amount of cotton bought by China and sold by the US in a single week since October 2003.

November 10 – China's soybean imports were down 5.4% year on year to 41.52 million tons in the first 10 months of 2011, according to customs figures.

November 10 – China's iron ore imports were up 10.9% year on year to 557.93 million tons in the first 10 months of 2011, according to customs figures.

November 10 – China's crude oil imports were up 5.9% year on year to 209.16 million tons in the first 10 months of 2011, according to customs figures.

November 10 – China's refined oil imports were up 13% year on year to 33.22 million tons in the first 10 months of 2011, according to customs figures.

November 9 – China's offshore investment will grow 20% to 30% in the next three years, with a focus on the resources sector, according to an E&Y report.

November 8 – China plans to increase its offshore iron ore output by one million tons in total during the next four years, according to a five-year plan for the steel industry. The nation imported 620 million tons of iron ore in 2010, or 63% of its total consumption. Iron ore prices rose 61% in 2010, meaning Chinese steelmakers paid ¥196 billion more for the key ingredient used for steel making.

November 7 – The current high gold price is unreasonable and will not last, Lan Fusheng, vice chairman of Zijin Mining Group Co (SHA: 601899, HKG: 2899), China's largest gold producer by output, told Dow Jones Newswires. Lan predicted gold prices would hover between $1,200 and $1,300/oz in the years to come.

November 7 – Over 60% of the edible oil consumed in China is directly imported or made from imported soybeans, the China Securities Journal reported, citing data that foreign grain and oil companies control a combined 66% stake in 64 out of 97 major Chinese peers.

November 4 – China will be the world's largest importer of aluminum scrap during the next five years as strong demand from the auto industry outstrips domestic supply, predicted a manager from Aluminum Corporation of China's (NYSE: ACH, SHA: 601600, HKG: 2600) subsidiary. "It will take China at least another decade to become self-efficient in aluminum scrap supply as the nation only started using raw aluminum in the mid 1990s, and the metal needs 30 years to degenerate into scrap," said Liu Bo, vice manager of Chinalco's Nela Import and Export Corp. "China consumed 3.9 million tons of aluminum scrap in 2010, 73% of which were imported."

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